Event & Programme Manager

emap is looking for an experienced event professional with a minimum two to three years’ event experience to join the World Architecture Festival as Event & Programme Manager with responsibility for managing over 200 judges and speakers at the event, including hotel and travel arrangements, fringe events, plus all the awards shortlisting and judging stages both prior to, and at the event.

The World Architecture Festival is the largest annual global gathering of architects; it runs the world’s biggest live design awards programme and sets agendas about the future of the built environment.  Normally held live in December.

The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate :

• Experience of event management, preferably within large scale event.
• Attention to detail, proofing experience and be able to write copy for speaker, judges, and other communications accurately and to a high standard.
• Excellent time management skills, with the ability to multitask and manage a heavy workload.
• Experience of budget management and reporting.
• The ability to work unsupervised and on their own initiative.
• The ability to manage and communicate with multiple stakeholders to complete project deliverables on time and within budget.
• Being a team-player, collaborating with a team
• Organise and update the judges & speakers excel master list, manage the speaker budget and collect photos, biographies and other material for festival marketing collateral.
• Manage all judges, speakers and internal stakeholders travel and accommodation requirements with a external supplier, ensuring all costs are within budget.
• Serve as a focal point for all judges and speaker queries, build long-term partnerships with key industry figures.
• Managing event operations for the internal entry shortlisting days and communications with judges.
• Creating the shortlist judging schedule for onsite live judging at the Festival.
• Liaise with external stakeholders to a high professional standard.
• Produce speaker & judges briefing documents and manage the briefings both by ‘phone and onsite.
• Responsibility for managing content stages onsite at the Festival, and proactively managing any judges and speaker issues.
• Work with the marketing and sales teams to produce and conduct event briefings along with the Programme Director to help drive revenue.
• Communicate with the Marketing team to update on content developments and supply content information as required for marketing purposes.
• Attend meetings with key partners as required to update on specific festival content developments.
• Assisting with other events in the portfolio when required.

Key Accountabilities :

• Speaker, Judges and Jury acquisition, communication and management, working alongside the Programme Director and Festival Curator.
• All speaker and judges communications, from initial confirmation, chasing headshots and biogs, dealing with queries and judges briefings and schedules.
• Managing the shortlisting and judging processes throughout the event.
• Liaising with the wider team to ensure accuracy of the shortlist and shortlist communications.
• Organising the timings of the finalist judging schedule for communication and publication.
• Checking and proofing copy and content for marketing and collateral.
• Preparing the speaker and judges briefings, judging schedules and communications.
• Managing the content, speakers, judges and fringe programme and schedule onsite at the Festival and briefing Judges, speakers and staff involved.
• Sourcing and negotiating hotel rooms / rates for the judges and speakers, plus wider team.
• Briefing the delegate sales team on the programme, fringe events, speakers to help drive ticket sales.
• Manage any virtual events either on site or as part of the WAF programme throughout the year.
• Managing bespoke events in the architecture portfolio when required.
• Assess sustainability credentials with suppliers and internally with emap’s own event processes, aim to reduce the event’s carbon footprint
• Communicate appropriate behaviour through event comms internally and externally

Qualifications & Experience :

• Educated to degree level or equivalent.
• Minimum 2-3 years event experience.
• Experience within large scale events.
• Demonstrable knowledge of managing costs within a budget
• Experienced in external stakeholder management
• Experience in hybrid and virtual event operations, desirable but not essential.

IT Experience :

• Must be familiar with general computer use including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Experience of using virtual event platforms, desirable but not essential.

Skills & Competencies :

• Organised & pays attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Experienced communicator who excels at stakeholder management.
• Excellent multitasking skills.
• Advanced numeracy skills.
• Advanced negotiation, problem solving and decision-making skills.
• Teamwork and partnership.
• Innovative and creative.
• Demonstrates integrity, leadership and respect for a diversity of opinions and styles, is not afraid of accountability and responsibility.
• Customer focussed.

Personal Attributes :

• Organised, tenacious and committed.
• Deadline-driven and results orientated.
• Can think ‘outside the box’
• Creative and curious.
• Trusted and well respected by their peers.
• Flexible and helpful.
• Self-motivated, self-sufficient and accountable.
• Engaging, empathetic with an ability to challenge at senior levels.
• Personal credibility / gravitas to command respect from the team / wider business and clients alike.
• Positive and enthusiastic and engenders this in others.
• Adapts well to and able to influence change – future focussed.
• Remains calm and professional under pressure.

Learning & Development :

At emap, we believe that employee learning and development are the key drivers of our success. To ensure continuous growth and meet the ever-changing demands of the workplace, we provide an environment that fosters continuous development for our employees.

Our employees are encouraged to identify their areas of personal and professional development aligned with our strategic areas, including management development, health, safety & wellbeing, sales, events management, marketing strategy, editorial, and information technology . We have a structured framework designed to help equip our employees with the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to excel in their job roles, contributing to achieving our organizational objectives.

To support our employees’ career development, we have designed specialized programs, as well as other stand-alone role-specific and generic courses, under the emap academy .

This exciting position is a full-time hybrid role. 2 days in the office, 3 days from home. This could change over time depending on business needs.

Benefits : emap is part of Metropolis Group. Together we are committed to providing a happy and healthy place to work, so we offer fantastic benefits and perks to our employees.

• 25 days of holiday per year (with the option to buy or sell)
• Health plan
• Life assurance
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Discounted gym memberships
• Retail discount vouchers
• Rail season ticket loans
• Private virtual GP access
• Pension scheme
• Income protection and more
• Continuous learning & development opportunities
• Seasonal flu jabs on site
• One paid volunteer day per year
• Summer and Winter parties
• Work from home during August
• In-house Excellence Awards and other innovation projects